January 19, 2022: e-PlanSoft™, leading developer and provider of cloud-based electronic plan review solutions, today announced that it has successfully implemented its flagship product, e-PlanREVIEW® at the Town of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada.
The implementation of e-PlanREVIEW is the second of three phases of the larger project that aligns with Gravenhurst’s initiative to operate as an environmentally-favorable organization. The adoption of e-PlanREVIEW supports the initiative, in part by removing the need to work with paper plan sets. Additionally, it advances the Town’s use of technology solutions, and was therefore eligible for partial funding through the Municipal modernization funding program through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing in Ontario, with the balance funded through the town of Gravenhurst Municipal budget.
In the first phase, the Town implemented the Cloudpermit platform for its permitting operations, and in the final phase, Cloudpermit and e-PlanREVIEW will be seamlessly integrated to create a cohesive end-to-end permitting and plan review solution. With the implementation the Town is equipped with a full array of tools and features that will improve the plan review process, such as flexible viewing options, a robust markup toolset, standardized comments library, and best-in-class reporting.
“With e-PlanREVIEW, our plan reviews are performed quickly and efficiently,” states Andy Jones, Chief Building Official at the Town of Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. “In fact, e-PlanREVIEW has made it possible for our staff to access projects and perform plan reviews from anywhere, which has been especially helpful with our increase in projects and the latest surge in the pandemic.”
In a typical year, the Town processes an average of 700 permitting projects, but in 2021 experienced a record high number of projects with fees coming in at approximately 150% of normal. The onset and continuation of the pandemic required additional safety measures to be added to existing processes. Although the Town was able to maintain its standards for timely processing, the transition to Cloudpermit and to e-PlanREVIEW will each reduce the time to approval significantly.
“We are pleased that the Town of Gravenhurst has gone live with e-PlanREVIEW and will benefit from modernized and simpler ways of working with an online building permit process and efficient plan reviews,” shared Jarkko Turtiainen, Cloudpermit’s Senior Vice President, North America.
During the period between the implementation of e-PlanREVIEW and its integration with Cloudpermit, Town staff will have the opportunity to familiarize with the browser-based plan review solution and still benefit from the advantages of e-PlanREVIEW over its previous mode of plan reviews, which were performed with paper.
“The implementation of e-PlanREVIEW is an important step toward maximized efficiency in the Town’s plan review processes and supports its goal of reducing or eliminating reliance on paper, as well as achieving more environmentally friendly operations,” stated Paula Montoya, Vice President of Professional Services at e-PlanSoft. “Once integrated with Cloudpermit, the Town will realize the full benefit of the integrated cloud-based solutions.”
The successful implementation of e-PlanREVIEW with the Town of Gravenhurst expands e-PlanSoft’s presence in Canada and is representative of the growing demand for e-PlanREVIEW internationally.